Should Single-Family Zoning Be Abolished?
Politics & Government · Real arguments from SuperDebate members below
Minneapolis abolished single-family zoning citywide in 2020. In the three years following, building permits issued increased 53% and rent growth in Minneapolis was slower than in comparable Midwest cities. California's 2021 statewide law (SB 9) allowing duplexes on any residential lot is the...
Posted by jconnor
Single-family zoning was historically used as a tool of racial segregation: explicit racial covenants were unenforceable after 1948, but zoning kept Black and immigrant families out of majority-white neighborhoods by making land too expensive for apartments. The wealth gap between homeowners and...
Posted by jconnor
The math is simple: in cities with fixed housing supply and growing populations, prices must rise. San Francisco permitted fewer homes in the decade of the 2010s than it had residents. The result is median rents exceeding $3,000/month. Every study on housing supply finds the same relationship: more...
Posted by jconnor
The empirical evidence on upzoning and affordability is more mixed than YIMBY advocates claim. Portland, OR abolished single-family zoning in 2021; early data shows that market-rate development concentrated in high-value neighborhoods, and rents for low-income residents in upzoned areas actually...
Posted by jconnor
Homeowners who purchased property under existing zoning rules made financial decisions based on the reasonable expectation that zoning would persist. Abolishing zoning without compensation is a taking of reasonable investment expectations — even if not a legal taking under the Takings Clause. It...
Posted by jconnor
Public infrastructure — schools, water, sewer, transit — was built to serve existing densities. Tripling or quadrupling density on residential land without concurrent infrastructure investment creates congestion, school overcrowding, and utility stress. The communities most harmed by density...
Posted by jconnor
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Practice with the coachMinneapolis abolished single-family zoning citywide in 2020. In the three years following, building permits issued increased 53% and rent growth in Minneapolis was slower than in comparable Midwest cities. California's 2021 statewide law (SB 9) allowing duplexes on any residential lot is the... (Argued by jconnor on SuperDebate.)
The empirical evidence on upzoning and affordability is more mixed than YIMBY advocates claim. Portland, OR abolished single-family zoning in 2021; early data shows that market-rate development concentrated in high-value neighborhoods, and rents for low-income residents in upzoned areas actually... (Argued by jconnor on SuperDebate.)
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